Harrisburg International Airport would like to introduce our next mini-series in blogging: Airport Life. This series will explore the airport community from business and leisure travelers to airport staff.
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| Tom Bouck, Airline Pilot |
And with that, let us introduce to you retired Continental Airlines pilot and Vietnam veteran Tom Bouck. From a young age Tom knew he wanted to become a pilot. Watching airplanes fly in and out of Schenectady County Airport in upstate New York, with his grandfather, he dreamed of one day joining these aviators in the sky as he watched from the ground.
Fast-forwarding to his stint in the Marines, Tom trained as an air traffic controller. Guiding aircrafts in and out of Marine bases, he came one step closer to realizing his dreams.
After serving for our country, he studied to obtain his private and commercial pilots licenses in Arizona. But with a combination of a competitive job market and a decreased need for pilots in the 1970’s, Tom began working for the FAA as an air traffic controller.
However, in 1981 when the air traffic control strike hit airfields nationwide, Tom soon moved away from this position. With a large amount of flight hours under his belt already, Tom refocused and switched gears back to piloting and became a flight instructor.
He began his commercial piloting career with Fresno West Air in California and moved to Command Airways based out of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for two years. In January of 1988, Tom switched to Continental Airlines, one of Harrisburg International Airport’s airline partners, where he stayed until retirement.
Tom’s first assignment with Continental was in Denver, C.O. Shortly after, he taught flight instruction on an Airbus A300 out of Los Angeles for three years. Continental then based Tom out of Hawaii. From here he flew mainly through the South Pacific, where he was able to explore such places as Australia, New Zealand, and Guam.
After two and a half years in Hawaii, Tom headed back to the mainland where he primarily flew out of Newark Airport in Newark, N.J. Some of his favorite European destinations include Madrid, Rome and Munich.
As Tom hit the age for retirement, he made his last trip as a pilot for Continental, which he chose to fly from Newark to Las Vegas, N.V. This flight was extremely special for many reasons. Tom’s wife Nanette rode proudly onboard the jet, which was only the second time she flew with Tom. When was the first you might be thinking? The two met when Tom piloted a sight-seeing tour from Pheonix, A.Z. to the Grand Canon of which Nanette was on board.
Tom’s father was also onboard the plane. The last flight signified new life for Tom and his wife, as they had recently purchased a house in Las Vegas where they currently live in the lap of retirement. Loved ones from around the country met Tom and Nanette at their new home that day to celebrate his accomplishments.
Flying has always conjured a sense of freedom for Tom. Enjoying many aspects of the job from the challenges he faced in the skies, and strategic decision making and safety planning, to being able to pilot his own journey across the globe, aviation allowed him to fulfill a life long passion.
While Tom’s period as a pilot came to an end in 2005, just five years later Continental Airlines announced a new era in business operations. Merging with United Airlines to form United Continental Holdings, Inc., these two airlines will now, together operate approximately 5,800 flights a day in 371 airports including Harrisburg International Airport.
In keeping with our Airport Life series, how do you think this will affect the future of commercial aviation namely the employees and passengers they currently serve?
We have asked a few select guest bloggers to join us on this blog as part of a six week mini series on hot button aviation topics that effect you, the traveler. These guest bloggers will no doubt enrich your travel experience by bringing in their own various perspectives and experiences from different horizons. Today we would like to introduce Dan Webb as the fifth guest blogger*.
Dan Webb, is sophomore at Bryant University. After a year of thinking, he decided to major in business administration, concentrate in finance, and minor in actuarial math and supply chain management. He absolutely loves planes ever since his first flight from Boston on a Northwest Airlines Boeing 757-200. When he was young, he made an airport made out of Legos, and drew the “Dan Airways” route map in inflight magazines my dad would bring home from trips (he still collects them to this day). He actually keeps track of all the flights he's ever been on. He's fairly confident that he wants to enter the airline industry after college. His professional profile is available on LinkedIn.
You can find more about Dan and his aviation/travel interests at his blog Things in the Sky and by listening to his podcast Airplane Geeks online. You can also follow Dan on Twitter.
Today Dan will share with us the in-flight wireless internet availability on the airline partners at Harrisburg International Airport (MDT).
It really impresses me how quickly inflight Wi-Fi has been installed on aircraft across the country. I've yet to be on a flight with the service, but friends who have really enjoy it. Here's a summary on the availability of Wi-Fi on carriers that fly out of MDT:
Air Canada
Like many airports in the Northeast, MDT gets its Air Canada service from Air Georgian Becch 1900 aircraft, which have no Wi-Fi. Air Canada has been testing the service on flights to Los Angeles from Toronto and Montreal, but there's no word yet on if they will expand it to the rest of their network.
AirTran
AirTran was the second carrier to get Wi-Fi on all of its aircraft, so if you're flying them out of Harrisburg, you'll have the service! The only exception is flights operated by AirTran's partner SkyWest, but that's a small operation based out of Milwaukee.
American
It was simply fantastic news when American announced that it would be returning to MDT with flights to Chicago O'Hare in April. Unfortunately, none of the flights to MDT will have Wi-Fi as they will be operated by regional subsidiary American Eagle. Nevertheless, it could be available on a connecting flight. American has Internet service on all of its 767-200 aircraft, and some MD-80s and 737-800s. You can check if your flight has Wi-Fi with it's handy widget.
Continental
The airline is still figuring out what it's doing with Wi-Fi. It will be testing out Aircell's Gogo service (the industry leader) on 21 757-300 aircraft, while the 737-900s are getting a different service from LiveTV. So, we'll just have to see what happens. Commutair flights to Cleveland and Newark from MDT won't have the serivce, though.
Delta
Like other carriers, service to/from MDT won't have Wi-Fi has they're operated by regional partners, but the service could be available on connecting flights. But Delta has made great progress - pretty much the entire pre-merger Delta fleet has Wi-Fi. So if you're connecting to a mainline flight out of Cincinnati or Atlanta, there's a great chance of Wi-Fi availability. The airline is just getting started on the Northwest fleet, however, so if you're going through Detroit your chances aren't the greatest.
United
The airline has only installed Wi-Fi on its 14 757-200s that fly to Los Angeles and San Francisco from New York as part of it's P.S. (premium service) brand. There are no plans in place to expand the service right now, but that could always change.
US Airways
US Airways is planning on installing Wi-Fi on A321 aircraft this year, but that hasn't started yet. Currently, the airline doesn't fly that aircraft to/from MDT.
*The opinions expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Harrisburg International Airport.
